


Not The Same

by MoonMelody



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No real spoilers unless you haven't seen gotg vol.1, Post-Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), no major character death that hasn't happened, roquill if you squint??, technically a character death idk, this is my first writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 22:59:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12827922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonMelody/pseuds/MoonMelody
Summary: Rocket deals with the death of his friend and the rebirth of him too. Despite not wanting help, he gets some.





	Not The Same

A month or so had passed since the group had taken down Ronan. Everything was fine, a little trouble here and there, the usual. Gamora had begun to catch on to some of Peter's more subtle flirting techniques, which now, in the opinion of the rest of the crew, had gotten worse. Rocket was himself. He teased Quill about being desperate, cackled as he shot down their enemies, and acted like an asshole. No one pointed it out that lately, he hadn't been spending time with Groot, who previously, he had been with nearly always. 

One night, while Gamora and Drax were out, conducting some business with a relative of one of Peter's various exes, Rocket had snuck out, sitting nearby the Milano on the ground of the planet they arrived on a night ago. It was cold but thanks to his fur and jumpsuit, he didn't even notice. The half terran was inside, music playing loudly in the background as he swiped through the latest news, checking out Wanted signs for any new threats to the galaxy. 

There was not much going on so it seemed, the twig was humming to the music, swaying back and forth. Soon enough, Groot got bored. As a toddler basically, he wasn't the best at communication and it wasn't any help that he was trapped in the pot. "I am Groot," he tried to call out to Peter, wanting some attention since nobody else was around. However, Peter didn't notice him, he only kept swishing his hips back and forth, lipsyncing to Stayin' Alive. Repeatedly, Groot kept trying to call out to him, only getting his attention once the song was halfway over. 

"What is it, Groot?" Peter asked, running a hand through his messy hair. Asking a question, in this case, was meaningless, since he couldn't exactly reply in a language he understood but even so, perhaps he could get a slight understanding. 

"I am Groot!" The small tree being exclaimed, waving his arms. 

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. "You're hungry, aren't-"

"I am Groot," he sighed, cutting off his teammate, shaking his head.

"You want me to change the song-no, you want to get out of the pot?" He guessed. "Groot, I can't, your legs haven't grown back," after saying that, he realized what a strange sentence it was. After a second or two, he went off topic. "Where's Rocket? Don't tell me he went off to steal something, we were making progress!"

"I am Groot," he shook his head. "I am Groot," he then muttered. 

"You don't know where he is?" Since he was a child, Peter wouldn't hold him responsible for not knowing where the halfworld raccoon was. Groot nodded so Peter added on. "I'm gonna look for him." Groot was about to say something more but Peter handed him a small toy to fidget with.

................................................

Outside, it was dark. Despite there being a few moons nearby this planet, they were small and not very bright this night. Rocket was sitting on a fallen tree of some sort, looking up at the sky. Ever since the day Groot had sacrificed himself for these four idiots, he hadn't slept the same. That Groot that he had met in prison and had crazy adventures with wasn't that kid. He couldn't have been. Every time he looked at the one in the pot, he smiled but saw something different, no, he _felt_ something different.

He was out here to take his mind off of something along the lines of that but it had ended up being the opposite. He couldn't stop thinking about it. Kicking a rock, he grumbled something before hearing a leaf break nearby. Expecting the worst, he turned around to face whoever it would be, fangs bared as his hand was already reaching for a gun.

"Rocket, it's just me," Peter said, most likely more surprised than Rocket had been. "And jeez, I thought we were getting past pointing guns at each other!" He chuckled with a grin, even if they did know each other for a while, he always would get a bit concerned when Rocket did stunts like that.

"Fuck off," he hissed in response, his words carrying little to no harshness in them.

With a snort, Peter sat down beside Rocket who grumbled something under his breath. "You know, we're a family. A fucked up, crazy, slightly dysfunctional family but-"

"Is that supposed to do somethin'?" Rocket said with a roll of his eyes.

"For the record, I wasn't finished," Peter retorted. "We're a family if something is on your mind, you can talk to us," his voice was soft. He wasn't sure what was up but he could sense that something was off with his friend.

It took him a while to respond, about a minute or two to be more exact. At first, he scoffed before actually taking his words into consideration. Shifting, he brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them loosely before letting out a heavy sigh. "I don't do that type of stuff," he said dully. Peter knew that he meant "I don't talk about my feelings" but gave him the chance to continue if he wanted, which, Rocket did. "It's... It's Groot, blarg, now that I say that I realize how stupid it sounds like, talkin' about a tree and all."

"What's wrong with Groot? He seems to be doing just fine," Peter muttered, lifting a brow. He didn't understand but then again, Rocket didn't understand his own emotions or what was wrong either. "He tried to sing with me yesterday, was adorable even though he can't say anything besides three words, you shoulda been there though."

While he was talking, Rocket's tail swished with irritation. "That ain't Groot. He was an idiot but not a child."

"You know that little guy is Groot, right?" Peter muttered, turning his attention to him.

The raccoon-like creature let go of his legs, standing up and glaring at Peter. "He isn't!" He exclaimed. "Why can nobody see that this, this kid is just a kid! He's not the Groot I met, he isn't the same!" Peter had opened his mouth, about to speak but Rocket spoke first. "Groot was the only one I ever had as a true friend, the only one I _will_ ever have!" He snapped. "I'm getting out of here, this frickin' fake family thing isn't for me." 

Peter got up now, placing a hand on Rocket's shoulder. Surprisingly enough, he didn't swat him away. Instead, he stood there and Peter swore he could hear him sniffling. The only time he had poured out serious thoughts like this is when they were back at the bar. He remembered that Rocket had been about to get into a fight with Drax but now, he knew that Rocket trusted him. Sorta. He hoped that was the case anyway. 

"This is what I mean, I don't talk about things, it's better if I don't say shit," he sighed. Peter walked closer now, gently stroking the messed up fur on his neck which was somewhat soft.

He shook his head though. "As I said, we're a family. It's okay to talk about what's on your mind," he wanted to add "as long as it's nothing Drax would say" but decided against it. "And I know what you're going through-" he paused, correcting himself. "I don't know what you're going through since you knew him better than me but I know where you're coming from."

"This kid looks so much like him but just seems completely different, like a hollow shell or kid clone of 'im," he explained, coming to realize what really was bothering him. "It's like the Groot I knew died and left behind a kid for me to raise, I don't know." It wasn't that he didn't know but instead, that he wasn't sure of how to explain it. 

Peter listened to him. "There's no way to reverse what happened when he saved all our asses but maybe it's just because he's a kid now. I'm sure he'll act more like himself when he's an adult," he said, trying to think on the positive side. "Even though you don't think you have anyone for you, you do."

"Who would that be?" Rocket muttered. "You, starboy?" 

"Yeah, me and you know my name isn't "starboy", it's Starlord!" He exclaimed, huffing. 

"When you stop callin' me a raccoon, I'll call you by your stupid alias," Rocket said, this time acting more playfully than previously. 

"If you saw a raccoon, you'd see that you are one," he snorted. "But I meant what I said, we're friends and also family, whether you like it or not. We're a bunch of losers that have each other's back."

**Author's Note:**

> || This is the first story I've written on ao3. None of the characters belong to me. Please comment or leave kudos if you enjoy it<3<3 ||


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